GRollins

Why so gloomy? Classical isn't dead. It's currently called "film soundtracks." John Williams, Howard Shore, et. al. are writing beautiful Romantic classical music that's already slowly (in some cases, not so slowly) moving into concert halls as stand-alone music. We went to a Harry Potter concert last year (SC Philharmonic @ Koger Center, so a real, actual, formal sit-down concert) and his Star Wars music has been making the rounds for years. I saw John Williams conducting the Boston Pops cover that all the way back in the '80s. Some of Shore's music from Lord Of The Rings is outstanding. Hans Zimmer has done good work. There are others. Prokofiev wrote film scores, so there's precedent. Come on, man, don't be an Eeyore. All you have to do is open your eyes and look about. There's some amazing classical music right under our noses. Grey

I was telling my wife that I enjoyed listening to Chick practice more than some well-rehearsed, fully prepared bands I've heard. Grey

I read somewhere--can't remember where--that there are fewer than 200 full time authors...everyone else has a day job. Speaking from experience, I can attest that writing is a "don't quit your day job" kind of thing. I've got a spreadsheet that I use to keep track of the stories I've sold. If I had made all that money in one year, I'd count it a fair living at doing something that I like to do. Split it into two years and it's close to poverty wages. Divide it over the length of time I've been writing and it's pretty paltry per year, but good beer money. How many full time musicians there are, I do not claim to know. I sense that the statistics are much better than they are in the writing game. Still, it's clearly difficult to make a living at it unless you're teaching--which to me counts as a day job, the same as an author who teaches. I see some people saying, in essence, "if I can't make money playing prog, it's useless." Okay, but that's an entirely different mindset than the one that says, "I feel it. I hear it in my head, and if I don't play it out loud, I'm gonna bust open at the seams." If money is your driving motivation for playing music, then you're going to arrive at entirely different answers than if you're being driven from the inside to play prog, win, lose, or draw. You can criticize any genre of art as being worthless because it won't make you money if you're in the wrong place or at the wrong point in the cycle for what you want to play/write/paint/dance/whatever. There's a pretty good chance that prog will fail utterly in the middle of the Amazon River basin. Likewise in the Congo. It would have failed in the 1700s, anywhere in the world. Obviously, it did well from the late sixties through the mid-to-late '70s, then went into hibernation. Now it may be stirring once more. If I'm right, we're entering a period where people may again appreciate more musical complexity after a diet of pablum pop; something more stick-to-your-ribs, rather than cotton candy. There are signs that things are trending that way in that vocals have become very flashy, with lots of trills and octave-wide leaps. So far the instrumental accompaniment has been rudimentary, but I believe that will change. Vocal harmonies are in vogue and that's also an encouraging sign. If we can get the instruments to where the vocals are, things will start happening. Hmmm...vocal harmonies and complex music...kinda like Jon Anderson and Chris Squire, eh? (And, yes, a little help from Steve Howe on vocals...) And, yes, the audiences will begin to show up. It's all cyclical. After listening to complex music, the trend swings towards simpler music. After a while, the mind starts hungering for something more substantial. That time is coming. If you want to play something else, that's fine. Even during the heyday of prog and fusion jazz, there were other sorts of music that were doing well. Grey

Yes created unique melodies, rather than just tearing off scales. That, for me, was what made them interesting. I have been remiss in keeping up with Billy Sheehan and was quite interested to find that Sons Of Apollo billed themselves as prog. Billy Sheehan and prog? Sounds like a good match to me...only...not. I don't hear anything "prog" in SOA's music at all. Metal, yes. Hard rock, yes. You can tick either or both of those boxes quite readily, but prog? I don't hear it. As I mentioned above, it's going to boil down to someone's definition of prog, but still: 1) Complex rhythms? No. 2) Changing rhythms? No. 3) Long compositions? No. Etc. Now, I want to make clear that I haven't been through all their stuff, so there may be some things that are more "prog" than I've heard so far. If that's the case, I'll eventually get there, because I like some of what I'm hearing and I'm going to keep listening. But prog? I just don't see it. Not in this case...or at least not yet. So, again, what is prog? Who gets to decide? I see that SOA bills themselves as prog, so in their minds, they're ticking some sort of prog boxes on the imaginary checklist. What are they hearing that I'm not? Or is this just another example of music getting dumped in the prog category because it doesn't fit gracefully anywhere else? And what's up with the mix? On the tracks I've listened to so far, Billy Sheehan's bass is mixed so low that it's hard to pick out. Lotta guitar, though. A while back Rolling Stone published a list of the 100 Greatest Prog Albums Of All Time. I took it as an excuse to go wallow in some cool stuff--maybe find something that I'd overlooked. The problem was that at least a third--maybe as much as half--of the list didn't strike me as prog on any level. It was almost as though an editor assigned the story to the reporter with the title already intact and the poor guy ran through all the usual suspects (Yes, ELP, Rush, Genesis, Pink Floyd...) and still had slots to fill in order to make it to one hundred, so he started backfilling with other things. So, again, what is prog, anyway? Grey

Though I can't claim to be a keyboard player, properly speaking (at the end of the day, I'm still more string oriented), prog (by some definition) is undoubtedly a priority with me. Strike that. It's THE priority. With the caveat that my definition of prog may not mesh with others'. Grey

Supper's almost ready, but I wanted to slip in a few quick points: 1) I cannot listen to the kind of vocals where the singer sounds like he/she has been gargling with rusty nails. Shout-screaming doesn't count as singing in my world. And if you consistently can't tell what the words are because their voice is so distorted, it ain't singing, it's just noise. 2) I cannot abide unrelenting hostility in the lyrics (e.g. "I want to rip off your head and shit down your throat"). I mean, really, don't we have enough hostility in the world? I, for one, don't need more than I'm already exposed to. 3) The infusion of heavy metal into what I would call prog has a tendency towards being a shred-fest of minor/pentatonic/whatever scales at light speed. I want to make clear that I'm not against speed, per se, but if the best you can muster is just a scale, then that ain't a melody. You didn't actually create anything. You're just regurgitating a music lesson you saw on YouTube. (...they probably didn't pay for it...) 4) #3 brings up the "What is progressive music?" question. It's hard to define. I maintain that prog is the category people dump music in when they can't figure out where else to put it. I, for one, hear nothing whatsoever in common between, say, Yes and Pink Floyd, yet they're both classified as prog. The supper bell just rang. Grey

(...actually, I'm pissed because I didn't think of it first...) Grey

Boo! Grey

Me? No, hell no! I'm not familiar with those things and already have a lengthy to-do list. I just thought it might--possibly--be of interest to someone else. I have no earthly idea what they are, but they look cool. In fact, my to-do list just got longer. I just came in from adding frames to a bait hive--caught my second bee swarm of the year. I had three frames in a medium super just to make it smell like bees (there's also a deep, but swarms always want to move "upstairs" to begin with) and needed to get that filled out before they started building burr comb in the void. Good thing I didn't wait until later in the week, as they'd already started...elapsed time, less than an hour. Them li'l darlings is in a hurry! Sadly, I'll be lucky if the hives last out the year. People around here spray insecticides and herbicides with abandon and it's been years since I've had a hive last more than eighteen months. People just don't give a shit. Grey

I don't have a clue what to do with this sort of thing, but it looks like something that could be cool... Vibrachime & Vibrachord Grey

Nope. Not backwards. This is when you know things are going well. You become a conduit for the characters. Think of it as taking dictation. It's the best possible way to write. You know how in Star Wars, Yoda, Obi Wan, et. al. say to quiet your mind and the Force will speak to you? That. Don't be rude; shut up and let the characters speak. After all, it's their story, not yours. It also works in reverse, so to speak. If the story goes dead and you're working harder and harder to push it along, STOP. You've taken a wrong turn. I had that happen on a rather large story one time. Turned out the reason things had ground to a halt was that I wasn't listening to the characters. I had to rip out the last third of the story and do a massive rewrite, but when it was published it hit people hard enough that they were literally sending me condolence cards (this was pre-internet, so snail mail) due to the death of a major character. I still have that stuff in the drawer where I keep old manuscripts. Somewhat closer to your point, there's a preset on my Kronos that's got, uh, character, shall we say. My wife came in not long after I got the keyboard and was still exploring all the native sounds it could make. I said, "Honey, listen to this stupid sound. How could anyone ever use this?" and dropped my fingers on the keys, playing a hokey riff, all the while making fun of the patch. Only...suddenly, it sounded cool. Really cool. I frowned, looking at the keyboard as though it had betrayed me, tried a few more notes...and they fit, almost magically falling into place. Nothing for it, but to...I fluttered my hands at my wife. "Go away, I'm going to be busy for a while." She smiled, knowing that look on my face, and backed out. The tune practically wrote itself from there on out--at least the keyboard part. I still need to go through and write some lyrics, but that's always been difficult for me (apparently being an author doesn't ease my travails when writing lyrics). The short answer: You're a fool if you don't follow your inspiration. Write down or record your original thoughts so you still have a trail of bread crumbs that you can follow if the new ideas fail. They may yet become the basis of a separate tune (or a part of your current one if you abandon your preconceived ABABC structure), but it's important to strike while the iron is hot--your muse may not be patient enough to wait for you if you ignore her. Grey

Two Model Ds. Both purchased before the recent Uli/Behringer fracas. One new (good price, got it at Black Friday pricing). One used (REAL good price, bless 'im). The new one had the firmware update problem that some of the early ones did. That one was replaced with a new one. Both have performed flawlessly since. People seem to have had negative views of Behringer for quite some time--at least some people. Me? I'd never had anything of theirs prior to these two Ds. Then the thing came up a month ago, or whenever it was, and that seems to have hardened some peoples' hearts. I can see their point of view, but I don't know that there's a single corporation out there that's lily-white. You just choose your enemies. Will I buy a 2600 when it's finally released? Maybe. Probably. Like I say, you can find something to complain about for any company out there if you dig. I choose not to dig. There's enough hatred and negativity out there already and I don't feel the need to add to it or wallow in it. We have enough other problems to worry about. Grey

Condolences. You're not alone. The economy is not as strong as some would have you believe. My wife lost one of her jobs the day after Christmas* and the business is going under, even as we speak. It's been a bit of a drag and she's not taking it well. Then came the virus and she's on hold at her other job (like so many others), so that's weighing on her as well. Add to that the fact that she's a "people person" and isolation doesn't work well for her, and it's been a bit interesting. But look on the bright side...you said you've been 'laid until May.' There are many who would be glad just to get laid on Saturday night. (...okay, okay...lame attempt at humor...laugh with me or at me, your choice. I'll buy the next round to make up for it.) Grey *What kind of asshole lays people off the day after Christmas? Ebenezer Scrooge? I mean, really, that's just nasty, you know?

Strings of Christmas tree lights. You've already got 'em. Drag 'em out and give 'em some off-season use. Battery powered lights are the pits because they eat batteries. Tree lights are AC powered--good to go--and AC is always your cheapest source of power $/W in the long run. To be honest, I use the white strings--well, warm white--but colored strings are fair game. We buy lights at the end of the season when you can pick up a couple of boxes for practically nothing. Grey

A few points: 1) This quarantine/distancing thing is going to put quite a strain on families. In our case, I'm very much a loner and can spend vast amounts of time by myself without stress. My wife, on the other hand, thinks she can handle solitude, but can't. I've known this about her for a long time, but she's having to confront the fact that she's not going to see anyone at work for an extended period of time--that it'll just be me and the three kids, here at the house--and she's about to lose her mind. And this is only a few days in, mind you, so it's liable to get worse. The quarantine is going to be hard on some people. Some of them will learn from the experience. Some will not. It will be an interesting litmus test for us all, personality-wise. 2) At the risk of sounding sexist, I read in a book (by Deborah Tannen?) that women don't want their problems "fixed." They just want someone to listen and they very much resent a guy who tries to solve the problem because--in the woman's view--they're not listening. To me (very much a fixer), this borders on insanity. Why the hell would someone keep a problem...nurse it, nurture it, milk it, when it would be so much more logical and reasonable to just bloody-well fix the problem and move on? Well, I've learned the hard way that those words are true. If Tannen is right, it's a gender thing, not a personality-type thing and you simply are not--ever--going to win. Period. You can't fight emotion with logic and you can't fight logic with emotion. The fight will never end; never be won; never be resolved. Just one, long, ongoing fuckup. Ugh. Yeah, I know, men and women aren't hard-coded to be precisely this or precisely that...yadda, yadda, yadda...can we just skip that whole argument, please? I look at it as two bell curves (Gaussian distributions for those who want to be pedantic about it) that have considerable overlap, but there are also differences in the "average" man and "average" woman, in spite of those who would have you believe that men are simply "just like women, but they were brought up in a society that tells them to act 'manly'" or vice versa. Some of the difference seems to me to lie in the realm of how we respond to problems. As a real world example, my wife will put up with a leaky faucet forever (even though she has tools and sufficient mechanical ability to rebuild a faucet), whereas I glare at the stupid faucet for about ten seconds, willing it to stop. When it doesn't stop dripping (the Force must not be that strong with me), I head down to my shop and grab wrenches. She lives with it. I fix it. I don't know of a single relationship where those roles are reversed, although I do know of a number of relationships where neither partner will fix things. This could potentially be a whole thread in and of itself. It's an inherently messy subject. 3) I had a girlfriend years ago who I went through the breakup/make up cycle with many times. I learned the hard way that a relationship like that isn't good for either party. I later heard that if you're in a relationship where you keep having the same fights over and over and over...get out. It's one thing if you have a fight about topic A, then the next time it's B, then C, etc. that's not so bad. But if you keep fighting about A, then A, then A again...A, A, A, A...that's real bad. You're not resolving anything and the relationship is toxic and will likely always be so. Leave. I didn't. I and my girlfriend fought over the same three or four things forever. Two of the topics were obviously based on her obsession with her father, who left when she was young, but the other stuff I never figured out. And, yes, some was me, in case you're wondering... Footnote: One of my degrees is in psychology. One of the things they taught us was that a lot of psych is cyclical. Take nature versus nurture, for instance. The pendulum swings one way, then the other. Look for the cycles to run on the order of decades, not weeks, months, or single digits of years. It depends on the specific topic, but some things run about thirty years, others closer to seventy or eighty years, others even longer. Another example: We're in #Metoo now. In the '70s it was Women's Lib. Before that it was the Suffragette movement, roughly the same time period earlier, etc. You can't set your watch by these things, but there's a definite periodicity to them. And it's always the same mantra, "Contrary to what people used to think, studies now show..." over and over and over again. Once you're hip to the cycles, you can trace them back--in some cases for centuries. Grey

Yes, black would look good, but be aware that ebony trees are relatively small as trees go and finding pieces of ebony large enough to do end caps might be a problem. Might I suggest, say, Indian rosewood instead? If you want to stay dark, consider wenge. That, you can get large enough. Or walnut, easier still, and better overall if you're protecting scarce trees. Grey

I have a boring-ol' black Kronos X and am content with it. Wish it had 88 keys (it's a 73), but other than that, it suits me just fine. I like the looks of the unit above, but not enough to make me sweat. I think I'll stick with the one I've got. Grey

Behringer did well by me when my Model D refused to update. I find it annoying to have to cover shipping costs back to the manufacturer for something that is clearly a manufacturing defect (firmware, in my case)--it effectively adds to the purchase price. That said, it ended well. The D was the only piece of Behringer gear I'd ever bought up to that point. I now have a second D (which updated firmware without problems), so I now have two pieces of Behringer gear, albeit of the same model. Grey

Well, if you want specifics, I'm open for business! Which means that I've been writing and such...nothing to do with building electronics, although I was working on a circuit back during December. Which reminds me...need to get back on that. Grey

To some degree it will depend on the size of the company. Some of the Eurorack companies are pretty small, whereas Yamaha is huge. If it's a one or two guy operation, I imagine it would be easier to keep going--they're isolated anyway. Bigger companies might shut down. Grey

As far as supergroup busts go, my biggest regret is that XYZ didn't work out. Jimmy Page on guitar and Chris Squire on bass? Now, that might have been worth a listen. They pulled in Alan White for drums and Dave Lawson for keys. Page tried to interest Robert Plant in taking up vocal duties, but Plant wasn't interested (Squire was singing at that point). Bummer. If you hunt around, you can find some loose recordings that they did. It's been a while since I listened to it, but I recall the songs as being rough. They hadn't found common ground yet and it sounded like they were in different spaces creatively. Would it have worked, given more time? Could it have worked? We'll never know. But still, if I couldn't have Led Zeppelin or Yes, I'd definitely be interested in seeing what would happen if you put parts of both groups together. Grey

...so, as I was saying... The way I see it, you're going to need an immersive experience to make any headway. Lacking Asimov's "whole other end of the room" holo-technology, the best approximation would be large--or multiple--computer screens. Possibly curved ones. Or fair-sized TVs. Where do you find an installed hardware base like that? Gamers. And they also sometimes have good sound systems, including subwoofers, which would add to the experience. In addition, they're also frequently people who tend to isolate themselves anyway, so the loner thing isn't a bummer for them the way it is for a lot of non-gamer folks. They're already used to sitting in a chair, staring at their system for hours on end. Now, all we have to do is wean them off of their games for at least part of the day so they can concentrate on music. No, I'm not a gamer. I'm just trying to reason my way through this. Grey

That would be Cream, back in the '60s. Grey

I've said it before and I'll say it again...I believe that "prog" will come back, although possibly with a different genre name. I made a prediction in a thread a while back that one of the conditions would be a downturn in the economy that would slow people down and--with more time on their hands--they would have, and take, more time to actually listen to music, rather than dance to it or use it as background for their daily lives. Like it or not, prog is "listening" music, not dance or background. To get anything from it, you have to pay attention to it, not just let it mutter away at low volume in the other room. That's why a lot of people don't like it--it demands something from the listener and they're just too distracted and/or lazy to pay proper attention. And so, as I predicted, the market is down. Didn't foresee corona virus, but that will do very nicely to provide more time to contemplate...Yes? Okay, so...Asia. I confess that I found Yes to be much like the last few years of the stock market. A long, steady rise, peaking with Close To The Edge and Yessongs, then a precipitous drop with Topographic Oceans, a recovery of sorts with Relayer, then...well...I gave up on them. 90125 struck me as an attempt to remain relevant in the disco era and it worked. They survived, becoming one of the longest-lived rock bands. Good for them, but not so good for me. I hate disco and pop. Then, mirabile dictu, Steve Howe joined Asia and it was actually listenable (to me--yes, I know I'll get a bunch of hate posts telling me how great Tomatoes was, or 90210, or...). So...yeah...a breath of fresh air, it was. Asia doesn't quite scratch my itch the way the best Yes does, but I could definitely see myself in a band like that. Now, all I need to do is find someone to take over these pesky keyboard duties so I can get back to strings, and a good drummer and a vocalist (optional?) and I'll be ready to go, right? Shut it, you! A man can dream, can't he? Grey

Part of the attraction of a live concert is the shared experience, even if you're sharing it with strangers. If you're watching a band via YouTube, for instance, you don't have the crowd experience. Sitting alone in a room with a band that's playing on a stage somewhere else, but with no audience, is going to be like a return to MTV-style promotional videos. People won't pay attention. They'll use it as background music while they make and eat supper, or talk to friends, or surf the web. Once it's degraded to background status, it loses value, and once it loses perceived value, they won't pay for it...or not much. The trick will be to make it more involving. It needs to be more than just an MTV video. Grey